Dawes Kingpin
My Dawes Kingpin
I bought this Dawes Kingpin folding bike from Gumtree a couple of months ago with the intention of restoring it, but owing to the fact that I also have one and a half Raleigh Twenties being worked on, not to mention another new bicycle arrival, I think I need to sell it to keep some space in the garage.
It is early 1980s I think. Some work needs doing - the gears being the most immediate example. I’m not good at tweaking Sturmey Archer gears, but I’m having a go.
Discussions are taking place here (another picture or two at that link), but if that doesn’t work out I’ll sell it on Ebay.
The Dawes Kingpin seems to be highly regarded in certain (albeit limited) circles. See for instance this page on ’shopper bikes’:
The Dawes Kingpin is the shopper to have. It is well made and has standard threads, so any parts will fit. Prices for these, when we have them, starts £130 for rigid and £150 for folding.
These can be modified with more alloy parts to make them lighter, or have more gears. We once made one with 24 gears.
As with Raleigh Twenties people make all sorts of modifications to these bikes. See for instance: SM-Kingpin MkIV
Update: I have now sold this bicycle
